Revising this thread again this afternoon and thinking about “minimum optics to do the job” - this photo and the scope pictured came to mind. This is a $129 MSRP Bushnell Trophy 3-9x40mm, which I purchased for $49 plus shipping. It’s a capped dial scope, opposed to a turret adjustment scope, so we have to use a few tricks to retain zero, and since it’s on a 22LR, we have to dial two full revolutions with no rev indicator of any kind to reach 300yrds, but the glass is good enough, and in decent conditions for a decent shooter, we are able to deliver on target. It obviously gives up a LOT to the Bushnell Elite Tactical DMR II’s he has on his other firearms, but we’re not terribly hindered from fun days of plinking and pack rat and squirrel hunting with this little Savage.



Rolling through the few photos I have on Flickr, I also noticed these two pictures of relatively inexpensive scopes which I’ve used for mid range shooting, including considerable dialing for extreme trajectory compensation:

1) my 17WSM rifle sporting a $300 Nikon Buckmaster II BDC scope purchased on close out for $150, shown here fired at 200yrds. Also a capped dial, same deal - we have to mark the dial “clip” and the adjustment screw to be able to dial for range, or rely upon known reticle subtensions - which are inconsistent in this BDC reticle. But I have dialed this optic to reach out to 500 yards with the WSM on a few occasions, although I typically consider this to predominantly be useful as a 300yrd bunny gun. This happens to be one of my least favorite optics ever - as the mixed IPHY and BDC combo couldn’t be worse, and without parallax focus adjustment its opportunity for error and blurry reticle at longer range is frustrating. It also doesn’t perform well in low light, and has notable lag in resolution - but given decent lighting on short to midrange targets, it does the job.



2) A $300 Midway Exclusive Nikon Buckmaster SF, which comes with a second-focal plane Mil-dot reticle and and 1/8 IPHY adjustable turrets. This comes with two sets of turrets - a tall capped set and a shorter, fatter capless set - pictured here with the tall capped set installed. Topping this Ruger Charger pistol (since replaced), I shot regularly with this scope out to 325 yards (as pictured here) and occasionally farther, combining turret dialing with reticle hold over - occasionally totaling over 20ft of drop compensation to reach the target. As an 18x max optic with a 40mm, this scope does give up some brightness at max resolution due to its small exit pupil, but overall, it’s very serviceable.



I share these as acknowledgement that I know I don’t NEED a $1500-3500 optic to dial and shoot long ranges. He11, my first long range scope ever was a $200 Tasco World Class 4-16x44mm AO with Mil-dot reticle, and I reached out with that scope to 1000 yards many times, a few times even 1200-1760. But resolution, low light performance, and CA were all lacking, and of course, second focal plane, 1/4 IPHY dial with a Mil-dot reticle, and 1” tube limiting its dialing capacity - AND - capped dials instead of turrets... lots of things working against a smooth long range experience.